A wide variety of soap bars and methods of making such soaps are known in the art. Many soap-making processes, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,761, Ferguson et al., issued Aug. 17, 1954, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,116, Kelly et al., issued Jan. 31, 1961, both of which are incorporated herein by reference, utilize electrolytes, such as sodium chloride and potassium chloride, as processing aids. Thus, such soaps frequently contain significant amounts of chloride anions. In addition, it has been found to be advantageous to utilize potassium soaps as, at least, a portion of soap compositions; this is especially true where the soap to be manufactured is transparent, since the presence of the potassium soap enhances transparency.
It has been found, however, that the presence of significant levels of both potassium soap and chloride anions in a soap bar leads to the formation of crystals on the surface or the interior of the bar, after use or storage, particularly under hot and humid conditions. Such crystals detract from the appearance and consumer desirability of these soaps. It has now been discovered that by utilizing specific electrolytes in such soap bars this crystallization problem can be eliminated, while endowing the soaps with additional performance advantages.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a soap bar, especially a transparent soap bar, containing significant levels of potassium soap and chloride anions, which does not form crystals upon use or storage.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a soap bar which exhibits better lather and decreased scum formation properties than similar bars made with conventional electrolytes.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a transparent soap bar which has better transparency characteristics than similar soaps made with conventional electrolytes.